CU News

Northwest Denver chase, shootout leaves officer wounded, suspect dead

The vehicle of a suspect involved in a shooting at 39th and Osage in Denver sits after slamming into a tree. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Residents of a northwest Denver neighborhood were checking their homes and cars for bullet holes after a Wednesday afternoon shootout and chase that left a Denver police sergeant wounded.

One suspect is dead. Three others were injured — one critically wounded — and in custody. A man believed to be the fifth and final suspect was arrested Wednesday night.

The short chase ended when a red Dodge pickup crashed into a tree near West 39th Avenue and Osage Street.

Witnesses said people in the truck, during the chase, were throwing items in the truck at pursuing officers just before the crash.

A female suspect was injured in the crash, and another person was bitten by a police dog.

West 34th Ave. and Mariposa Street, Denver CO

Multiple police sources identified the injured officer as Sgt. Robert Motyka, who was hit in the shoulder.

"Thank God he is going to be OK," Denver Police Chief Robert White said. "He is in good spirits."

White told reporters that Adams County authorities had warned Denver to watch for a red truck in connection with a "mini-crime spree," including a case of domestic violence and reports of gunfire.

As night fell, he said his officers were still putting together the pieces of several crime scenes.

Thornton police spokesman Matt Barnes said the alert for the truck was issued after an incident before noon in the 2400 block of 101st Way after a man threatened another man with a handgun. There had been a death reported at the house that morning, but the death is not believed to be suspicious.

Advertisement

Barnes said the gunman fled in the red truck, along with at least two other people, a man and a woman.

Later, the same truck was associated with reports of gunfire in Montbello and Aurora.

Denver Detective John White said the confrontation between the truck's occupants and Denver police began near West 34th Avenue and Mariposa Street just before 3:30 p.m., followed by a pursuit of about six-tenths of a mile along busy residential and commercial stretches of Mariposa, West 38th Avenue and Osage.

Police secure the area near 39th and Pecos where a police officer was injured during what witnesses described as a red Dodge truck wrecking into a tree and a man exiting the truck who began shooting and fled on foot on Wednesday, January, 16, 2013. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Rosa Bonilla said she came out of her house near West 36th Avenue and Osage when she heard the sound of dozens of police cars.

She saw a red truck barreling down the street with two of its tires shot out. In the truck bed, she saw a chubby man in a white hooded jacket sitting on what looked to be sandbags. His right hand was gripping a small gun.

Not far away from Bonilla were two young children.

"I just saw the gun in his hand, and that's when I started yelling at the kids (to get out of the way)," she said. "He was sitting down. He had the gun in his right hand. He looked like he was trying to reload it."

Clay Schmitt was in his backyard at West 36th and Osage when he heard gunfire and saw a truck driving down the street with a man in the bed, hurling computer parts and hubcaps at the nearly two dozen squad cars that were following behind.

"I had guessed at that point he was out of bullets and he was doing whatever else he could," Schmitt said. "It was just cop car after cop car doing 60 mph."

Bruce Mason was working with a crew on a sewer line near Navajo Street and West 38th when he heard what he thought were tires popping. He turned to see the pickup crash into a tree and one man run away from the crash, firing shots.

When Mason saw bullets hitting the pavement, he and his co-workers ran for cover. Mason said he was the only one who got a good look, because the others were working below street level.

Traffic was snarled in the area for hours as police investigated a sprawling crime scene and set up a wide perimeter to find the man who ran away. The man who slipped away was described as about 6 feet, 2 inches tall and wearing a white hoodie.

Wednesday night, police said they had arrested a fifth suspect. John White said he was a man police had talked to earlier and developed more information on him as the night went by.

As the Adams County Sheriff Department brought dogs to help in the search, neighbors gathered to share information and concern for the safety of the neighborhood.

"Your heart just stops when you hear this crazy stuff," said 26-year-old Lena Marquez, walking with her 4-year-old daughter, Trina, a few blocks from the crime scene as helicopters buzzed overhead. "It can happen anywhere. Seriously, I wonder what kind of world our kids are going to live in."

Denver Post staff members AAron Ontiveroz and Yesenia Robles contributed to this report.

Police secure the area near 39th and Pecos. (AAron Ontiveroz, The Denver Post)

Lightning has 5A state title aspirations once againIt was the only home plate the Legacy varsity softball field had ever known, and there it was last Saturday, in its tattered state, dug out of the playing surface and relegated to a lonely, unused existence. Full Story

The Boulder alt-country band gives its EPs names such as Death and Resurrection, and its songs bear the mark of hard truths and sin. But the punk energy behind the playing, and the sense that it's all in good fun, make it OK to dance to a song like "Death." Full Story